This page has information and news of interest to the members. For a full list of forthcoming events, see "Calendar" on the menu and for a list of results see "Results".

Woodberry Weekend 2018

Allworth Salver Winners 2018

Chantal

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Sonia

Some pictures from the Woodberry Weekend November 2018, Eastbourne.

Woodberry Summer Meeting

Woodberry Summer Meeting

You are invited to the Woodberry Summer Meeting on Saturday 23rd June.

The meeting will consist of:

Pairs event commencing at 13:45

Buffet meal at 17:00

Teams event at 18:00

The meeting is expected to finish at about 21:00.

This event is free for Woodberry members. The fee for non-members is £10.

Please speak to a committee member if you need a partner or team-mates.

Woodberry Weekend Autumn 2017

Woodberry Autumn Weekend, Eastbourne 2017

Why do people take selfies when they could just ask a stranger to take a photo for them?

Fortunately the second attempt was much better! As you see from the shades Saturday morning was very sunny, at least to start with.

I heard later those who went for fish & chips got soaked more than just by vinegar!

It was lovely for me to rejoin club members and enjoy another Woodberry Weekend.
We very much were missing Gill Hutchinson who sadly passed away the week before. Many of us had know Gill and enjoyed her friendship for years. She will be greatly missed.

Results

Here are the winners of each event. See Results on the menu for full details.

Allworth Salver
Congratulations to Nigel Freake and Chantal Girardin for winning the Allworth Salver with a combined score for the Friday and Saturday Pairs of 61.52%.

Thank you...
to Paul Landford for preparing a quiz night. Unfortunately bridge play finished late on Saturday night and the quiz was cancelled. The questions will be used again at another Woodberry event.
to Steve Bush for arranging with Jenny to transport equipment back tor London.
to Marg Buckley and Doug Dunn for keeping track of hotel bookings and payments.
to Nigel Freake for directing, scoring and things we don't even know about to make the weekend run smoothly.

Woodberry Weekend Spring 2017 (Copy)

Woodberry Weekend, Worthing 2017

At this year's Spring weekend in Worthing we were graced with fabulous weather. On the Saturday morning some adventurers took to the hills, while others to the shops or to the beach for a leisurely stroll.
I think everyone seemed to have a pleasant time. The Ardington Hotel thanked us all for the donation given on Sunday.

Congratulations particulaly to Winnie Godber for winning two of the events.

Quiz Night

Many thanks to Anne Catchpole and Stefanie Rohan for presenting what looked like a fun quiz on Saturday night. The winners were Team Roly (Elsa, Malcolm, Roly, Shelley and Jenny).

It was good to see newcomers and members returning after several years as well as the usual weekenders. Much appreciated!
Big thanks again to Nigel Freake for directing, scoring and organising the movements. Also to Steve Bush for getting equipment to and from the hotel and to Malcolm Morris for the photos.

The next Woodberry Weekend will be in Eastbourne on November 17-19th at the Landsdowne Hotel.

Woodberry Summer Congress

Woodberry Bridge club will hold a one day Congress on Saturday 1st July.

The congress will include:

pairs competition starting at 1:45pm

buffet meal

teams competition starting at about 6:45pm.

You may enter both competitions, or only one.

Entry will be free for club members.

Please let the committee know whether you are attending so that catering can be planned for the correct number.

Woodberry Weekend Spring 2017

Woodberry Weekend, Worthing 2017

At this year's Spring weekend in Worthing we were graced with fabulous weather. On the Saturday morning some adventurers took to the hills, while others to the shops or to the beach for a leisurely stroll.
I think everyone seemed to have a pleasant time. The Ardington Hotel thanked us all for the donation given on Sunday.

Congratulations particulaly to Winnie Godber for winning two of the events.

Quiz Night

Many thanks to Anne Catchpole and Stefanie Rohan for presenting what looked like a fun quiz on Saturday night. The winners were Team Roly (Elsa, Malcolm, Roly, Shelley and Jenny).

It was good to see newcomers and members returning after several years as well as the usual weekenders. Much appreciated!
Big thanks again to Nigel Freake for directing, scoring and organising the movements. Also to Steve Bush for getting equipment to and from the hotel and to Malcolm Morris for the photos.

The next Woodberry Weekend will be in Eastbourne on November 17-19th at the Landsdowne Hotel.

Woodberry Weekend Autumn 2015

Woodberry Weekend, Eastbourne 2015

This year we had 8 tables at the Autumn Woodberry Weekend. It was good to see new members and some returning after several years.

We were very fortunate to have fine weather over the weekend with beautiful sunshine on Sunday morning.

Thanks Nigel for scoring and directing, Stefanie and Kevin for arranging a fun and interesting quiz and Judy and Paul for transporting the bridge equipment.
Also thanks Toni for sendiing the photos. Glad to hear you are reading 'Bridge for Beginners.'

Woodberry Weekend, Eastbourne 2014

At the Autumn weekend this year we had 10 full tables plus 4 non bridge playing guests, a welcomed increase in attendance over recent years.
The Friday night pairs was won comfortably over 27 boards by Anne Catchpole and David Schiff with 64.4%.
Then in the Saturday night pairs, with fewer boards to make time for the late night quiz, Nigel Freake and Chantal Girardin scored 77.2%! When combined with thier Friday night score of 55.3% this proved to be sufficient to win the Allworth Salva trophy for the highest combined score over the two nights. Close runners up were Anne and David who were in 2nd place on Saturday after winning on Frriday night.

Congratulations to Mandie Campbell, Toby Musk, Kevin Robins and Tony Notley for winning the multiple teams with 62imps on the Saturday afternoon.
The Fun Pairs on Sunday was won by David Schiff and Anddrew Clery with 62%.

Quiz Night
Following the Saturday night pairs Stefanie and Winnie presented a really fun quiz with several topics including some musical questions.
Quiz winners with a big lead of 34 points were the Pearly Wurlies - Gill, Peter, Harvey and Richard (Pearl).

Big thanks to Nigel Freake for directing and scoring and Steve Bush for arranging equipment to be delivered by Paul, Stef and Judy.

Thanks everyone who attended for making it a fun and pleasant weekend.

Woodberry Weekend, King's Lynn 2014

Feeling relaxed as always after the Spring Woodberry Weekend in King's Lynn. It was good to return there after 2 years and enjoy the quite Norfolk countryside and fortunate sunshine. Although the group size was smaller than usual I think everyone enjoyed the break away.

Good to see new members performing well in the pairs events.

The Friday Night Pairs was won by Sati McKenzie and Andy Clery with 58.3%.

The Saturday Night Pairs winners were Paul Lamford and Stefanie Rohan with 62.4%.

The Saturday Individual winner was Alan Setchell with 65.4% closely followed by Marg Buckley and Nigel Freake in second place with 61.5%.

The Fun Pairs winners were Steve Bush and Alan Setchell with 62.8%.

Congratulations to Alan S for consistent results in all events including winning the pitch & putt on Saturday morning

Thanks especially to Nigel for scoring and directing, to Steve for organising the equipment and arranging transportation and to Judy, Winnie, Paul and Stefanie for transporting equipment. Thanks also Alan P for helping to arrange the Woodberry Weekends. Looking forward to the next one!

Doug

More photos...

Thanks Sati for the photos!

Woodberry Weekend Autumn 2013

Woodberry Weekend, Eastbourne 2013

At this autumn weekend we were blessed with delightful weather especially on the Saturday. While strolling along the beach it was hard to believe we were in mid November. We also had higher numbers than in previous years and it was a pleasure to be joined by several weekend first-timers! Many members said they enjoyed the weekend and wanted to return once again. I am pleased to say we are booked for another weekend at the Lansdowne on 7th-9th November 2014.

As with previous autumn weekends the Friday and Saturday night pairs scores were combined to produce a single winning pair to receive the Allworth Salva. This year the trophy went to Mandie Campbell and Toby Musk with a combined score of 62.2%. Here are the winners for each session:

Friday Night Pairs:

Winnie Godber & Martin Baker 66.18%

Saturday Afternoon Multiple Teams:

Andrew Clery & Robert Balchin, Gill Hutchinson & Harvey Fox +46IMPs

Saturday Night Pairs:

Steve Bush & Alan Setchell 65.56%

Sunday Fun Pair:

Alan Setchell & Jane Handley 60.67%

Allworth Salva winners:

Mandie Campbell & Toby Musk 62.2%

See Results Calendar for all hands and results.

Thanks Woodberry committee members for helping to promote this event and to Steve for making sure supplies arrived and were safely returned. Also to Gill, Winnie and others who invited visitors to join us. Thanks very much of course to Nigel for scoring and directing not forgetting the hotel waiter with the tiny screw driver that kept our laptop working!

Finally, thanks Alan for helping to arrange the weekend and for organizing a fun history quiz following the Friday night pairs.

Woodberry Weekend Spring 2013

Woodberry Weekend in Worthing, Spring 2012

Pictures by Eddie Pinto

Woodberry Weekend Autumn 2012

Autumn Woodberry Weekend - Eastbourne 2012

Another relaxing weekend as always. Congratulations Brenda Taylor and Roy Smith for winning the Friday night pairs with 65.4%. The Saturday night winners were Nigel Freake and Chantal Girardin with 64.7% while the pair with the highest combined score and winners of the elusive Allworth Salva was Andy Conway and Winnie Godber averaging 60.6%.

Multiple Teams winners on Saturday afternoon were Paul Lamford, Stefanie Rohan,Terry Murphy and Alan Parker with +46imps. The Sunday Fun Pairs was won by Winnie Godber and Andy Conway with 65%. Congratulations to Andy our new Chairman.

Great to welcome newcomers to the Woodberry Weekend this autumn and some returning after many years. For those coming for the 30th time or more I wondered what keeps bringing them back for more! Previous chairman Roy Smith said he likes the seasonal regularity and that it's the first date to go in his diary. He said that unlike holidays which take a few days to get used to the bridge quickly creates focus and relaxation.

On the Saturday morning several people took off for Beachy Head, some walking all the way there and back. I decided to take a lift along with Marg, Richard, Judy and her dog Jaspa. The photos show the woods at Salt Dean and you can see how at one point Jaspa just stopped as if to say - I'm not going any further folks! So he went back to the car with Judy and we all met up later. Drinks by the Beachy Head pub fireplace was a perfect end to the morning.

Thanks to the directors Roy, Andy and Nigel. Steve for arranging the equipment and those who helpled with transportation.

I'm happy to keep returning...

Doug

Weekend Organiser

National Pairs

Congratulations to Stefanie Rohan and Paul Lamford who finished 2nd in the Peterborough semi-finals of the National Pairs.

Congratulations also to Martin Baker and Dave Strawbridge who finished 7th in the Leatherhead semi-final.

National Pairs Final 2013

More success for Woodberry. All of the five pairs who qualified for the National Pairs finals finished in the top half of their finals and won green points. These were the results:

A-Final (50 pairs)

NamesPositionGreen Points

Nigel & Paul 410.24

Mandie & Benjy14 4.85

Ken & Stef22 2.78

B-Final (35 pairs)

NamesPositionGreen Points

Keith & Andy 5 4.00

Helen & Tim 7 3.25

City Cup comes to Woodberry

City Cup - 9th April

On Tuesday 9th April, we will be welcoming David Wing to the club to present the City Cup - below he explains what this is all about:

Allow me to introduce myself - David Wing - a fanatical bridge player, now 66 years old, and intent on doing something crazy before the "Grim Reaper" gets me.

I plan to visit all 51 cities in England to host a FUN bridge night at one of the city's leading bridge clubs. I set out in April 2012 and managed to complete 43 Cities before I was exhausted and needed a Winter break. The Cities so far have been:

The winners on each of these special evenings received the CITY CUP which is presented by me and a photo taken. The actual City Cup is subsequently sent to the Club shortly after and engraved with the Winners' names plus the name of the City represented - this a gift from me which can be competed for annually if the clubs so wish. Eventually I hope the EBU magazine will publish a whole page of photos of all 51 winners.

My personal challenge is to include in my travels a cycle tour of every City including a visit to its Cathedral (or equivalent). Charity sponsorship of this Bike Challenge is not the central motivation for this project but should anyone feel like putting a few extra pennies in with the table money that night I would ask that you forward it to any of the Club's preferred Charities or otherwise forward to the Alzheimers Society via the Website www.justgiving.com/citycup. To date approximately £5500 has been raised for Alzheimers.

If you would like to read more about this Challenge there have been articles in the August (Page 35) and December (Page 41) issues of the EBU Magazine and even a short article in "The Daily Telegraph" in September. Photos of all 43 events to date can be seen on EBU Home page by scrolling down RHS to "blogs" and clicking "news"

Ranked Masters Pairs 2013

Woodberry members achieved success in the Ranked Masters Pairs in Daventry on 2nd & 3rd March 2013.

Liz Clery & Ryan Stephenson won the Premier Life Masters

Martin Baker & Mike Skelly won the National Masters

Tim Chanter & Helen Wildsmith were 4th in the National Masters

National Pairs

Five Woodberry pairs have qualified for the National Pairs Final at Hinckley on April 13th-14th.

As far as we know, this is the highest number of qualifiers ever achieved by Woodberry!

Probst Cup 2013

Congratulations to Team E - Steve Bush, Jean Rolnick, Chantal Girardin and Doug Dunn - who have won the Probst Cup. They beat Team B by a clear margin in the final on 19th March.

4th Tuesday Pairs and Handicap competitions

Nigel Freake has won the 4th Tuesday Pairs Competition 2012.

Nigel also had the highest score in the 4th Tuesday Handicap Pairs, but the Handicap winner cannot be the same person as the main 4th Tuesday winner. Therefore the prize goes to the second placed player, Anne Catchpole.

Congratulations to both Nigel and Anne.

Riviera Congress, July 2012

Torquay Riviera Congress 2012

The final hand at the Riviera Congress Swiss Pairs was one of the most interesting especially for my partner Chantal Girardin. She had all the outstanding high cards so unlike declarer she knew exactly what was going on.

SJ105 HJ32 D52 CQ7542

S762 SA984H74 HK1096DQJ943 D106C1086 CA93

SKQ3 HAQ85 DAK87 CKJ

Bidding

S W N E P P2NT(20-22) P 3NT End

Simple bidding but not so the play. I led the DQ which South won and played back the CK. Partner saw my low club and instinctively took the CA. She could see there was no entry to dummy and either the clubs were blocked or we had 2 club tricks. Then her D10 return was allowed to hold. What now? Would you bet on declarer making 3NT or being defeated?

Knowing the clubs were not running Chantal deceptively returned a heart. Declarer made his first mistake by playing the HQ perhaps because he thought I held the HK and wanted to establish an entry to dummy. After unblocking the CJ he then played a small spade to the S10 hoping I had the SA (and would play low). But partner won and put declarer back in with a spade. With no way to the table South hopefully played up to the HJ. Partner again won and returned a heart establishing 6 tricks for the defense and a top score.

Can you see how declarer could have made the contract after winning the HQ?

Play the CJ then SK. East canít afford to take this without creating an entry to dummy so ducks. Then East must duck the SQ for the same reason. A third round of spades would throw East in to take 2 spades but then be forced to return a heart giving an entry to table with the HJ for the established clubs.

We lost the last match heavily but I can take 100% responsibility for using the red card 3 times too often. But a good lesson for me and very good defense by partner right till the end of an enjoyable weekend.

Pictures: Lunch in the One World Cafe and Italian dinner on the Saturday night. Thanks team mates - Malcolm, Elsa, Chantal, Doug

Woodberry Weekend Spring 2012

Woodberry Weekend - Spring 2012South Wooton, near Kings Lynn

Another small group but enjoyable weekend. We were lucky once more with having plenty of sunshine.

Winners of the Friday night pairs were Malcolm Morris and Marg Buckley with 61.9%.

Saturday night winners were Nigel Freake & Winnie Godber with 62.3%.

Saturday afternoon Teams was won by Nigel Freake & Winnie Godber with Ken Rolph and Colin Hepworth with 64 IMPS.

Sunday Fun pairs was won by Nigel Freake and Colin Elliott with a massive 75.6% !

It was interesting to hear about Malcolm and Marg's self-guided walk around historic buildings in King's Lynn town. Sounded very informative. The picture shown is of Marg Buckley sitting infront of the statue of a man named Vancouver who surveyed the pacific Northwest coast of North America. You can guess the city named after him.

Many thanks as always to the weekend directors Roy Smith, Colin Elliott and Nigel Freake and to Brenda for hotel arrangements, Steve Bush and those who offered help with transporting equipment.